Great Longstone, Derbyshire

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Great Longstone, Derbyshire

Profile manager: Simon Daniell

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Interesting Facts:

A place called Longsdune was mentioned in the Domesday Book as belonging to Henry de Ferrers.
The church of St Giles dates from the 13th century. There is a medieval cross in the churchyard, and built into the wall of the vestry is the head of a cross.
The manor house, Longstone Hall, is from the 14th centrury but was rebuilt in the mid-18th century.
Currently there are two public houses (previously there were three): The Crispin Inn, named after St Crispin, the patron saint of shoemakers, and The White Lion.
The manors of Great and Little Longstone had many owners: Walter Blount, Lord Mountjoy until his death in 1474; Robert Shakerley and his wife Margaret (daughter and heiress of Roger Levett); then Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury.
A market cross stands on the village green.
Longstone Edge, to the north, is a limestone ridge some 1,300 feet (400 m) in height. It has been intensively quarried for galena, fluorspar, barytes and limestone.
There was a railway station, built by the Midland Railway in 1863 on the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway and closed in 1962. Originally known as "Longstone", in 1913 it was renamed "Great Longstone for Ashford" (Ashford-in-the-Water). Nearby is Thornbridge Hall. The trackbed is now part of the 8.5-mile (13.7 km) Monsal Trail, a walk and cycleway.